The present invention relates to ottomans and more particularly to multi-functional ottomans.
Ottomans are well-known in the furniture art. While originally intended to be used for a support for the legs of a seated person, they also are occasionally used as seats in and of themselves. The footprint of an ottoman is relatively large and often occupies a significant amount of the available space in an apartment. In an apartment where available space is at a premium, the luxury of an ottoman which only functions as a conventional ottoman is excessive and impractical.
An ice bucket or like thermally insulated container for use in a living room bar is typically substantially smaller than an ottoman and does not have a footprint which unduly impacts on the available space, even in a relatively small apartment. However, when the container is not a simple ice bucket, but rather a relatively large chest for containing food, chilled beer, wine bottles, sandwiches and like articles which benefit from the cooling effect of ice cubes, ice packs, or the like placed in the chamber, the size of the container increases greatly and again makes an unjustified demand on the available space of the apartment.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-functional ottoman.
Another object is to provide such an ottoman defining a thermally insulated chamber.
A further object is to provide such an ottoman which can receive articles to be cooled and cooling means within the thermally insulated chamber.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such an ottoman which is simple and economical to manufacture, use and maintain.
It has now been found that the above and related objects of the present invention are obtained in an ottoman with a thermally insulated chamber according to the present invention. The ottoman with a thermally insulated chamber comprises an airtight inner wall and an airtight outer wall, the inner wall being coaxial with and shorter than the outer wall; an airtight top wall secured to the periphery of the top of the outer wall and an airtight bottom wall secured to the peripheries of the bottoms of the inner and outer walls; and an airtight mid-level wall intermediate the top and bottom walls and secured to the periphery of the top of the inner wall. The inner wall and the mid-level wall define the interior of an axially-extending thermally insulated chamber closed at the chamber top and open at the chamber bottom.
In a preferred embodiment the inner, outer, top, bottom and mid-level walls cooperatively define an airtight thermally insulating chamber filled with a thermally-insulating body of stagnant gas.
Preferably each of the walls is flexible, and the ottoman is inflatable and deflatable.
The present invention also encompasses, in combination, the ottoman described hereinabove and a watertight basin disposed within the insulated chamber, the basin having an open basin end and a closed basin end such that, when the combination is in an inverted orientation, the basin will support articles placed therein.
Preferably the basin is snugly received by, but removable from, the insulated chamber of the ottoman. When the combination is in an inverted orientation, it may additionally include cooling means (e.g., ice) supported in the basin for cooling articles therein.
Alternatively, the bottom wall of the ottoman and the closed basin end define a common generally planar surface.